The present invention generally relates to biofabrication technology and, more particularly, to systems and methods for manufacturing three-dimensional constructs made of various materials using scaffold-free, nozzle-free and label-free magnetic levitation in non-toxic paramagnetic medium. The essence of the method consists of rapid levitational assembly in the construct's heterogenous magnetic field from various materials, such as, for example, tissue spheroids, single-cell suspension, microorganisms, peptides, potassium phosphate granules, which are chaotically distributed in the volume of culture medium. The construct is formed in a specific area where a magnetic trap is formed as a result of the combined forces of gravitational and magnetic fields. In this area, the gravitational pull is compensated and particles of material are forced together. The introduced technology can become a powerful biofabrication tool that enables rapid assembly of various three-dimensional constructs, including biological tissues and organs.

The invention relates to a system (10) for determining a force applied to a cell or tissue culture (14) arranged in a culture chamber (12), comprising an elastic element (30) mounted in or suitable for mounting in said culture chamber (12), said elastic element (30) being adapted to be coupled with said cell or tissue culture (14) such that a force applied to said cell or tissue culture (14) leads to a deflection of said elastic element (30) against a restoring force thereof, and said elastic element comprising a magnetic element (34) arranged such as to be moved upon deflection of said elastic element (30), a magnetic field sensor (42) mounted or suitable for mounting outside said culture chamber (12), said magnetic field sensor (42), when mounted outside said culture chamber (12), being adapted to detect a change of magnetic field attributable to a corresponding movement of said magnetic element (34) upon deflection of said elastic element (30).

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a magnetic bead platform for isolating sperm cells from biological samples. In some embodiments, such magnetic bead platforms integrate recognition reagents to its surface to bind target cells, such as sperm cells. Such embodiments provide the ability to at least one of rapidly isolate and quantitate sperm cells from biological samples as occur in sexual assault evidence, for example, thereby enhancing identification of suspects in these cases and contributing to the safety of society.

A cell culture carrier module and a cell culture system having the same are provided. A cell tank and a culture medium module respectively communicate with the carrier module. The carrier module includes a reactor, a first fixer, a second fixer and a plurality of cell culture carriers. The reactor has a chamber and at least one inlet/outlet. The inlet/outlet communicates with the chamber. The first fixer is fixed to the reactor and located in the chamber. The second fixer is disposed in the chamber and is movable relative to the first fixer. Two ends of each cell culture carrier are fixed to the first fixer and the second fixer, respectively. The cell culture carriers are in an untwisted state or a twisted state according to a variation in a distance between the first fixer and the second fixer due to a movement of the second fixer.

A culture system comprises: a preparatory culture vessel and a main culture vessel that accommodate cells and a solution; a main stage that holds the preparatory culture vessel and the main culture vessel; a connecting tube that connects the culture vessels; a valve that opens and closes the connecting tube; and a rotating mechanism that rotates the main stage and imparts a height difference between the culture vessels to transfer the cells and solution by dropping between the culture vessels.

Disclosed is a device for mechanically characterizing an element of interest, for example an oocyte. The mechanical characterization device includes: a support receiving a container suitable for containing a liquid medium; a holder for holding the element of interest; an indenting member; a magnet for generating a magnetic field in which the indenting member is intended to move and which participates in suspending the indenting member with an unstable horizontal direction oriented coaxially to the longitudinal axis; a controller to control the magnet to maneuver the indenting member in translation along the unstable horizontal direction; and a component for determining the mechanical characteristics of the element of interest.

A system and method for conditioning a tissue are provided. The system includes a substrate, a plurality of microwells formed in the substrate, and a microsphere associated with each of the plurality of microwells. The system also includes a pair of flexible pillars within each of the plurality of microwells. Each flexible pillar includes a first end bonded to a respective microwell and at least one flexible pillar has a second end bonded to the microsphere. The flexible pillars are configured to deflect when exposed to a magnetic field to controllably stretch microtissue spanning the flexible pillars.

The present disclosure provides for microfluidic devices, systems, kits, and methods of using multi-stage microfluidic devices are provided for high throughput sorting, separation/enrichment of target rare cells from a sample, and can additionally provide for characterization/phenotyping of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and other unlabeled rare cells in a biological sample such as blood, where the rare cells do not need to be labeled.

Devices for magnetic 3d culture are described including magnetic lids/bases for single Petri plates, adjustable height cap for same, as well similar devices for multi-magnet culture plates. A pen-like device for sterilely lifting and moving cells is also described, and this magnetic pipettor can also exist in multi-well magnetic pipettor formats.

Provided herein are systems and methods for culturing tissue-like assemblies of cells in the presence of a pulsating alternating ionic magnetic resonance field. The cells are introduced into a growth module in fluid connection with a nutrient module in which the gravity vector of the growth module is continually randomized and cultured in the presence of the alternating ionic magnetic resonance field.